Golf Babes

Australian golfer Stephanie Kyriacou is a winner on a pro tour, and she hasn't even turned pro yet. Wins by amateurs on pro tours are rare, but Stephanie pulled off the feat today — and she did it with an 8-stroke victory. The tournament was the Ladies European Tour's 2020 season-opener in Australia, the Australian Ladies Classic Bonville. Kyriacou carded scores of 69, 63 and 69, then closed with a 65 to finish at 22-under 266. That was eight strokes better than the runner-up. (That runner-up, Korean golfer Ayean Cho, is ranked No. 35 in the Rolex Rankings.) Did we mention she's still an amateur? We did? That's OK, it bears repeating. Who is Stephanie Kyriacou? Right now she is the 90th-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. But she's about to make a leap up the rankings. Prior to her LET victory, 89th was her highest WAGR ranking to date. Kyriacou made the cut in a previous pro tournament this year, the LPGA co-sanctioned ISPS Handa Vic Open, and f…

Muni He is the 2019 LPGA Q-Series champion and now has full LPGA Tour status for 2020. He won the 8-round tournament by four strokes over LPGA winner Hee Young Park, and by six over third-place Yealimi Noh. He carded eight scores under par in the tournament, with a best for the eight rounds of 65. At one point, He had a streak of 51 holes of par or better. He is 20 years old and is a native of China. She played college golf for one season at the University of Southern California, then turned pro for the 2018 season. She made 21 starts on the Symetra Tour that year and earned her first pro victory at the Prasco Charity Championship. He played LPGA Q-Series in 2019 and finished high enough to earn LPGA status for 2019. She made 19 starts on the LPGA in 2019, with a best finish of 27th. At the time the 2019 Q-Series began, He was ranked 339th in the world rankings. Now, after winning, she has another chance to start making her mark on the LPGA Tour. (Photos via @lilymhe/Instagra…

Nelly Korda has been around long enough now that it's surprising she's still only 21 years old. She's accomplished quite a bit since joining the LPGA Tour in 2017. She's won a couple LPGA tournaments. She's made the Solheim Cup team. But Nelly hadn't won in Europe until today. On Sunday in France, Korda scored a runaway win the Ladies European Tour's Lacoste Ladies Open de France. With rounds of 68, 64, 70 and 67, Korda finished at 15-under 269. That was eight strokes better than the runner-up. Nelly's first LPGA win happened in 2018, and she added LPGA win No. 2 early in 2019 in Australia. When Nelly joined sister Jessica as an LPGA winner, they became just the third set of sisters in LPGA history to both post victories. And when Nelly and Jessica both made Team USA's 2019 Solheim Cup team, it was just the second time that happened. They partnered one another to two match wins, becoming the first sisters ever to partner in a Solheim Cup match…

By the time the 2019 CP Women's Open came around in Canada, Jin Young Ko was a 5-time LPGA Tour winner playing her second full season in North America. By the time the 2019 CP Women's Open finished, Ko was a 6-time LPGA Tour winner. Ko was born July 7, 1995 in Seoul, South Korea. She turned pro as a golfer in 2013, when she was 18 years old. The following year she won her first KLPGA tournament. And from 2015-17, she won nine more. Ko finished second in the 2015 Women's British Open. Then, when she won the 2017 LPGA KEB-Hana Bank Championship, co-sanctioned by the KLPGA and LPGA, Jin Young earned her LPGA Tour membership.Jin Young Ko smooothin' it out https://t.co/1eS9WGhvdhpic.twitter.com/HKpV5DiLvC— Golf Babes (@golfbabes) July 6, 2019 And her first win as an LPGA member didn't take much time in coming. It happened in the first month of the 2018 season, at the ISPS Handa Australian Women's Open. Ko posted 13 Top 10 finishes that year and ran away with th…

The long wait for another Ladies European Tour victory is over for Scottish golfer Carly Booth: She's a winner again after claiming the trophy at the 2019 Tipsport Czech Ladies Open. Booth, still just 27 years old, hadn't won any pro tour events since 2012. That year, she won twice on the LET, including her home country's Ladies Scottish Open, and seemed on her way to bigger things. There were some injury setbacks along the way, and although Booth maintained her status as a golf glamour girl she had trouble finding the winner's circle again. After seven years, though, Booth is back. Booth finished the Czech tournament, a dual-ranking event for the LET and LET Access Series, at 9-under 207 after rounds of 68, 69 and 70. She beat the quartet of runners-up — Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen, France’s Anais Meysonnier and England's Charlotte Thompson and Hayley Davis — by one stroke. “I’m a little bit flabbergasted by the whole day. I played good golf and I really had t…

Gabriela Ruffels won the 2019 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship by defeating Albane Valenzuela in one of the most closely contested finals in recent memory. The final score was 1-up in favor of Australian Ruffels, but the two golfers were never separated by more than one hole after starting the final 18 all square. A birdie on the 35th hole gave Ruffels a 1-up lead, and she won the match and the tournament with a halve on the final hole. It was the second loss in the championship match for Valenzuela, who plays college golf at Stanford. It was the first trip to the finals (her first appearance at all in the tournament) for Ruffels, who plays NCAA golf at Southern Cal. The 19-year-old Ruffels entered the tournament ranked No. 52 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, while Valenzuela was No. 5. Ruffels comes from a sports family. Her parents were both pro tennis players (in fact her dad was Billie Jean King's mixed doubles partner at some Grand Slam tournaments, including runn…